“Asscrown," I muttered under my breath as I headed to my next class. I wasn't proud of swearing at a complete stranger, no. but he started it.

Noah matched my pace. "Don't you mean 'assclown'?" He looked amused.

"No," I said, louder this time. "I mean asscrown. The crown on top of the asshat that covers the asshole of the assclown. The very zenith in the hierarchy of asses," I said, as though I was reading from a dictionary of modern profanity.

Monday, January 19, 2015

He’s stuck between feeling impressed, jealous, and somewhat disgruntled in the people he calls his neighbors. He hasn’t felt this way since he was in high school and at his first and last basketball game the student section threw, correction frisbee’d, toast on the court and yelled ‘toast em up!’ to get the audience pumped up. Some kind of show of support for the star player at the time Kendall Loafawitz.

He’s been standing...well slouching against a wall near the elevator alongside some others whom he’s seen around the city. Looks like hes not alone in his decision to take advantage of the situation. Its snowing balls outside and he would go and fuck around in it, but Kaden has been absorbing a hell of a lot of pot smoke for about an hour now. He’s still upset with how stupid the people on this floor are, but that doesn't mean he’s taking the high road and letting it go to waste.

He pushes himself off the wall and feels the blood in his body leave his head.

“Oh shit...:” he laughs lightly to himself and knows its time to go eat and sleep this off.

He trudges down the staircase in hopes of going out in the snow for a little while. Snow is cool. He hears a sploosh and looks down to his feet. Water?

He can make out the number two on the door, and realizes that hes on the second floor. There couldn't be any snow all the way up here…

He’s burning daylight, but he wants to know why its so wet.

He giggles to himself.

Wet. That's what she said. “But I wouldn’t know much about that now would I?” He keels over in laughter and nearly slips down the stairs. Composing himself he pens the door and realizes the ground is soaked. Gross. He scrunches up his face. Clogged toilet...of COLOSSAL PROPORTIONS?!

“Broken pipe.”

He looks up from the ground and tilts his head to the side.

“Do I know you?” he asks. The stranger’s eyes widen before settling on neutrality.

“No. I don’t think so.” the stranger says. He nods and then walks off. Kaden scratches his head puzzled. He knows that voice. He swears he does….

~*~

The music plays louder than it needs to in his headphones, but it doesn't bother him.

The heater is on higher than it should be, but he doesn’t care. The blanket is wrapped too tight around his body, but he can barely feel it.

Going outside was so not the smart move. Thank God he got a flu shot. He sniffles and face plants against the couch. The phone rings, but he can’t hear it. 10 minutes of consistent buzzing against his back later he unravels from his fortress of solitude and looks at the screen.

Alicia.

“Fuck...fuck.” he’s dead. She doing to have his guts for garters. He looks back at Mona’s room to make sure she’s locked in there doing whatever it is that she does when shes not at work. His pulse speeds up and he knows that he is very much in danger of heart attack at this point. Ignore her...or face her.

He’s waited this long. One more day won’t hurt right? He turns the device off and puts his headphones back in his ears.

Starting the last song over he hides under his blanket once more in hopes of disappearing before Alicia comes looking for him.

….Another shot of Henny and I’m faded asking ‘how long does this drug called fame last?’ That’s deep….

“THAT’S WHO THAT WAS!” he exclaims as he sits up suddenly. Forrest. Forrest Whitman! He’s like...one of his favorite artists.

“KADEN SHUT UP I’M TRYING TO WATCH NETFLIX.” Mona’s shouts scare him into silence. He’ll quiet down, but he’s not going to drop it just yet.

Sunday, January 11, 2015

"What do you mean when is he going to visit? He isn't. Not as long long as my hair is yellow."

"Your hair isn't yellow. Its blonde you butt munch."

"Blonde, yellow, orange, peach. Its all the same."

"You're an awful roommate. I'm going to kick you out." At this Kaden closed his text book and turned around the back of the couch to try to catch the eyes of the short blue hair girl. He knows shes just kidding, she needs him just as he needs her. The bills aren't going to pay themselves, and living alone at 19 is a lonely life that neither of them want to face. He pouts his lips and blinks his hunter green eyes before responding.

"C'mon Mona. You need me. I promise I won't speak my mind ever again." he says with a cock of his eyebrow.

Mona laughs and puts down the dish towel from her position wiping down the counters in the kitchen. "You're a dick, have I ever told you that?"

Kaden turns back around ignoring the chestnut colored girl in the kitchen. "You've told me once or twice."

He reopens the book that he sat next to him and looks at the pages without really seeing any words. Is this his Greek Mythology book or his Intro to the Russian Language book? The couch dips next to him and he ignores the intrusion while continuing to read his textbook.

"Революция была одной из эпических пропорций..."

"I know you don't want to talk about it...but we need to okay? Do you have a class today?

"...no"

"Some party that you might ditch me for?"

He shrugs. "No."

"In that case we'll talk when I get back from work. Mike needs me to organize some files down at the radio station. Go have some fun. Stop studying." she pats his leg and gets up of the couch to go get dressed for her shift leaving Kaden in the middle of the living room surrounded by notes.

He picks up his cell phone from his jacket pocket and checks the time.

11:02am.

Maybe he'll go get some food while Mona is out. He stands up dusts the chip crumbs off himself. After he grabs his wallet, keys, and checks to make sure he has his phone, he leaves the apartment. Room 408's door looks identical to the other doors on this floor. Old with an awful peeling paint job. He shakes his head and jogs down to the car garage and hops into his car. Kaden starts the engine, checks his hair out in the rear view mirror and runs his hand through it in an attempt to tame it.

First he'll head down to the pizza place on Shellac and then maybe he'll head down to the Minute Clinic so that he can get a flu vaccine. Half his classes have been empty because of the flu outbreak after all.

~*~

"Its warm out tonight..."

"Weird huh? At least its not unbearable to be out here." Mona says in appreciation.

"You're right." he says distantly while squinting towards the sky in attempt to see any sign of the meteor shower that's supposed to happen tonight. The two of them snuck up to the roof and found a spot away from the entrance in hopes not to encounter anyone else who might sneak up. "I saw Brian today." he says with a smirk.

"The doctor at the clinic? The hot one?" she asks excitedly.

"Yep. He was there helping give out shots."

"He is yummy."

"Calm the hormones Mona." He says. She pushes his shoulder with both hands as hard as she can, he sways to the side and snickers.

"We should invite him over...and your dad."

"Mona..." he says in warning.

"I'm just saying. It would be a great way to start a conversation and brake the ice."

"For the nth time, I'm not telling my dad. Its hard enough as it is with me not getting into any big colleges." Kaden chews on his lip and looks back up and sees a glimpse of something flying across the sky. The shower is starting.

"I mean, I'm sure if we get some nice food and maybe put on some relaxing music with him over it'll be perfect and you'll want to tell him. We've been hiding this for the longest and I hate having to pretend like we aren't when he calls!"

"I'm not telling him I'm gay Mona!!"

The two go silent as they glare at one another and the sky falls around them.